Faced by the disaster of depression, Congress in the early 1930s
proved amenable to the far-reaching demands and programs presented
to it by the newly elected President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, but by
1937 it showed increasing resistance, even outright opposition, to
many New Deal measures. In this study, James T. Patterson examines
this resurgence of conservative strength in Congress, focusing upon
the personalities and backgrounds of the men involved and upon the
key domestic issues which brought them together in an informal
coalition opposed to executive plans, especially for the years
1937--1939. From the first the Roosevelt Congress had had its
"irreconcilables" -- men like Carter Glass, Millard Tydings, and
Harry Byrd -- who viewed the New Deal with dismay, and in the
voting on the public utilities holding company bill and the
surprise tax measure of 1935 they were joined by a significant
number of other congressmen who had hitherto supported the
administration. It was, however, Roosevelt's plan to enlarge the
Supreme Court that proved to be the turning point. This
controversial measure provided a common issue on which
conservatives, both Republican and Democratic, could unite -- the
"irreconcilables," Republicans like Arthur Vandenberg, others like
Charles McNary, and nominal Democratic progressives like Burton K.
Wheeler. Following this crucial confrontation, the bipartisan
conservative coalition was able to control enough votes to oppose
the administration on such key measures as the fair labor standards
and housing bills of 1937, the reorganization and tax bills of
1938, and the relief and tax bills of 1939. Incited by grievances
over patronage, a feeling that the emergency was past, and fears of
radicalism, congressmen increasingly asserted their independence of
executive leadership. In this 1966 Organization of American
Historians award-winning book, Patterson has provided a new
exploration of one of the most significant developments in recent
American history-the creation by conservative congressmen of a
pattern of cooperation that continues to exert a potent influence
upon the course of legislation.
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